He had eleven children, four, and possibly five, of whom enlisted in the Confederate army. (These were Grandpa Tom Brooks' brothers. Grandpa Tom was to young to join.) They were:

      BENJAMIN S. BROOKS

      FRANCIS M. BROOKS  

      J. R. BROOKS

      WILLIAM BROOKS

      BALAAM BROOKS (possibly)

These five and a brother-in-law, William McKinnon, all joined the Confederate Army  at the same time.

BENJAMIN S. BROOKS: Enlisted as a private in Co H., 1st Regiment, 1st Brigade, Ga. State Troops, Sept 26, 1861. Mustered out May 5, 1862. Enlisted as a private in Co. G, 55th Regt. Ga. Inf. May 5, 1862. Captured at Cumberland Gap, Tenn. Sept 9, 1863. Died of inflammation of lungs at Camp Douglas, Ill. Oct.24,1863. Buried in a common grave in Woodlawn cemetery with approximately 6,000 other Confederate POWs who died at Camp Douglas.

FRANCIS M. BROOKS: Enlistment and capture same as above except was released at Camp Douglas. Ill. June 18, 1865. Moved to Early County after the war. He married Mary Jane McKinnon. They are buried in the Eastern section of the Mars Hill Church cemetery.

J. R. BROOKS: Enlistment and capture was same as above except was released at Camp Douglas, Ill. June 14,1865. He and his wife lived south of Cuthbert, Ga. after the war. He applied for a Confederate soldiers pension on 28 Dec,1896. Born in Randolph County, Ga. on Jan. 15, 1840. Died Oct. 8, 1910. He and his wife, E. C., are buried at Mr. Hebron Church cemetery on Edison/Cuthbert road.

WILLIAM BROOKS: Enlistment and capture was same as above except died of congestion of brain at Camp Douglas, Ill. April 14, 1865. Originally buried in Grave 1059, Block 3, Chicago City Cemetery. Chicago, Ill.

Later when the Chicago City Cemetery closed, Benjamin and William were reinterred in the common grave at Woodlawn cemetery with approximately 6,000 other Confederate POWs who died at Camp Douglas. This common grave is referred to as the "Confederate Mound" and is toped with a stature of a Confederate Soldier on a granite shaft.

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I said in paragraph one, above, that there veer possibly five brothers in the Confederate army. I was told by Aunt Annie (daddy's sister) that there was talk in the family that BALAAM BROOKS was also in the army and died in battle. That's all she remembered. I could not find any record of his army service nor could I find any record of him in Georgia after the war.

These brothers were also brothers to Thomas Brooks Who fathered James Robert Brooks, Sr., etc.

The father of Grandpa Thomas' wife, GRANDMA EUNICE (PATE) BROOKS , and my Great-Grandfather, STEVEN S. PATE, was also a Confederate soldier.

STEVEN S PATE enlisted on Dec. 7, 1862 at Fort Gaines, Georgia. He served as a Corporal in Cullen's Company, Cobbs Guards, GVI. This was an infantry company attached to 22nd Battalion, Georgia Siege Artillery. He was stationed at Thunderbolt Station on the Savannah River just south of Savannah, Ga. ( this is the same station GGGF Thomas Holloway was at later in the war)  

He was sent to the General Hospital in Savannah on June 30, 1863. From there he was transferred to Grayton Hospital in Whitesville, Ga. (a few miles north of Columbus) and died there on 31 August, 1863. The location of his grave is unknown.

"I was told" that, instead of him dying at the hospital, some of his family went to the Grayton Hospital and intended to bring him home. That they loaded him on a boat and came down the Chattahoochee River to Ft. Gaines.

There he was put in a padded wagon and headed home. Somewhere between Ft. Gaines and Moye he died. One of those traveling with him then went to his home and brought his wife (and others of his family) to the Black Gum Swamp where he lay and there they buried him.

I know of no way to prove or disprove this, but it does sound plausible.